Proximity
by nozomi.no.uta
Summary: A fieldtrip. Yay. Ignore Heiji as he rolls his eyes and blanches.


**Author's Comments:** I was checking the Heiji&Kazuha (my favorite Detective Conan pairing) list of fanfics, and I noticed that there hasn't been much activity! Here is my first humble Heiji&Kazuha contribution, written also to give me a break from "The Kismet Scribe." This is also my first one-shot, my first romance attempt, and a semi-true story that happened to me.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan, but I think it is awesome.

* * *

Fieldtrips. Days of various activities outside those wretched classrooms. Chances to mingle with classmates. No lectures, pop quizzes, tests, or due homework of any sorts. Who didn't like fieldtrips?

Hattori Heiji.

Why not? Fieldtrips forced Heiji to walk around sight-seeing in places he'd already been to for murder cases. With his sharp memory, his mind involuntarily rearranged his fieldtrip destinations to as they were when the murders were committed. He could practically smell the bloody corpses and the conniving culprits trying to sneak out from under his nose. Sure, it reminded him of how much better of a detective he was than Kudo, but it was utterly _distracting_.

Then there were the buses. It was only recently that the school decided bus transportation was more beneficial--no rushing to catch trains, no head-counts every five seconds, and no sardine-squishing. Heiji _hated_ riding on a bus. To him, buses meant no air conditioning, slow-moving traffic, and partnering up for seat-assignments.

Then there were the strict schedules all the teachers made everyone follow. Because of the slow-moving traffic and certain classmates who _refused _to follow directions and _stop touching everything and shut up, damn it,_ lunchtime was usually reduced from an hour to twenty minutes (and they _still_ return back to school late).

Seriously. Who could eat lunch in twenty minutes? A growing boy like Heiji couldn't.

Mind you, _class _trips are a completely different category than _field_trips. Heiji loved class trips; they were longer, there was more to see, they were more fun--they were like mini-vacations, really, except when Kazuha kept following him around everywhere.

Kazuha--whom Heiji _constantly _questioned calling his best friend--happened to be his bus-riding-seat-assignment-partner for this particular fieldtrip. Half the time, Heiji wouldn't mind sitting next to Kazuha; conversations about nothing whatsoever tended to help him forget the hellhole he was stuck in for the day.

Unfortunately, a particularly nasty comment he'd made the previous day about her loud mouth had earned him the cold shoulder, complete with the whipping ponytail.

So, here he was, sputtering Kazuha's hair out of his face and muttering incoherent curses under his breath on a bus stuck in the middle of traffic. They'd left school grounds ten minutes ago and were headed for the Shitennou-ji. Brilliant. Maybe the bloodstains from that monk will still be there…

Kazuha's laughter at a joke with one of her girl friends rang more shrill than usual. Heiji's poor ears…

* * *

The Shitennou-ji was the Shitennou-ji. The Osaka Castle was the Osaka Castle. The Sumiyoshi Taisha was the Sumiyoshi Taisha. Big. Whoop.

To top it all off, lunchtime was reduced to _fifteen _minutes. Heiji managed to take a few bites before stuffing his unfinished bento into his backpack and rejoining the group.

"Class," the teacher spoke over the chattering students, "unfortunately, one of our school buses broke down. Whoever was riding in bus B will be split up among the remaining buses for the ride back to school."

Groans--Heiji's included--erupted. Three buses had transported his grade, and all had been pretty packed. Mental calculations on Heiji's part estimated at least twenty students extra students would be riding in each bus. He rolled his eyes, choosing to wait a while to let the other students board first (_not _because he was feeling especially couteous but because being squished between people in a stuffy bus _sucked_).

Once he finally got around to stepping on, he searched around with half-lidded eyes for a space he could fit into. His eyes scanned the bus…until they landed on a certain pony tailed girl staring out the window.

And the two guys sitting next to her, trying to strike up a conversation.

Heiji wove his way between limbs down the aisle until he loomed next to them. "Excuse me," he spoke through gritted teeth, "you're in my seat."

"Sorry man," one of the idiots shrugged carelessly. "I was assigned here."

The bus driver revved up the engine so loudly Heiji could feel the vibrations in his chest. (Or was he growling?)

"Looks like you'll have to sit somewhere else," the other idiot chuckled, turning back to try chat up Kazuha. She glanced at Heiji fleetingly while shifting towards the window.

Heiji fisted a hand. Oh how badly he felt like practicing kendo right now. There _was _a free spot behind them…He'd have to settle for sending them a death-glare behind their fat heads--

Wait. He counted…Six inches. Six inches of space between the bastards and Kazuha.

A sly smirk grew on his face. Without a word Heiji pressed up against the seatback, lifted one leg over those of the two guys, stepped down, lifted the other leg to meet the first, and plopped unceremoniously into those six inches.

"H-Heiji?" Kazuha stuttered, forgetting she wasn't supposed to be talking to him. "W-What are you doing?"

"I wanna sit here," he answered simply, giving the bastards a look that rivaled the devil.

Red blotches spread on Kazuha's face, her eyes flitting around to look at everything except him. "A-Ahou…"

Heiji watched in confusion. "What's wrong with you?"

Embarrassment turned into annoyance. She turned to face him full-on. "What's wrong with _you? _You could've sat behind us, ahou."

"But I wanna sit _here!_" What the hell? She isn't _grateful _he's here?

"There's more space back there!"

"You're sitting up here!"

Her eyes widened in indignant shock. "W-What does that have to do with anything?"

He groaned and rolled his eyes. "Ahou! I wanna sit next to _you!_"

There. That shut her up…kind of. "Y-You want to sit next to me?" she asks more softly, the anger disappearing fast.

"Yes," he huffed. Stupid girl.

Then…a little bell went off in his head. Did he just say what he _thought _he said? Is she blushing? When did she get so close?!

Before the horror (and secret enjoyment) set in, he saw a small, shy smile grow on Kazuha's face. "O-Okay," she murmured.

"Ooh," one of the idiots next to him chortled. "You wanted to sit here so you could get all lovey-dovey on her!"

His face felt like it lit on fire and his heart sped up. "S-Shut up!" He pushed both idiots off the seat, sending them tumbling into the aisle.

"Heiji," Kazuha sighed, blush still apparent, "you ahou."

"Who're you calling an ahou, ahou?"

"I'm calling _you_ an ahou, ahou!"

On and on it went. Idiot One trudged to the seat behind them while Idiot Two squeezed Heiji into Kazuha and Kazuha into the side of the bus. Neither seemed to mind, and Heiji decided fieldtrips and buses weren't so bad after all.

* * *

**Author's Afterthought:** The Shitennou-ji and the Sumiyoshi Taisha are both temples in the Osaka area. The only part that happened to me was the squeezing-into-those-six-SMALL-inches part but without romance factor. (I was the one squished against the side of the bus, but I didn't mind. The guy made me laugh, and he really did say, "I want to sit here!")  
What'd you think? Review please? Hope my small contribution was enjoyable! Thank you for reading!


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